Thumbs Up: To putting education first in Sangamon County

Friday

The editorial board of The State Journal-Register offers this week’s Thumbs Up/Thumbs Down:

Thumbs Up: To all the Sangamon County voters who approved a school tax referendum that will provide money for area districts to improve facilities.

By a 53-47 percent margin, voters said they were OK with adding 1 percentage point to the sales tax, starting July 1 of next year. The funding will be distributed, based on student enrollment, to school districts throughout the county.

The money must be used only for facility upgrades or construction, safety improvements or to retire building bonds. Springfield School District 186 led the effort for the tax, and it plans to use its funding — estimated to be a little more than $10 million annually — for security upgrades and to improve classrooms, physical education spaces and athletic facilities. More than 80 percent of District 186 schools are 50 years or older.

Officials at other districts have said they can plan for future growth, pay down bond debt or possibly even offer property tax rebates.

The increase means shoppers in most areas of Springfield will pay a 9.75 percent total sales tax on many items (although the additional tax will not apply to cars, trucks, ATVs, boats, RVs, mobile homes, unprepared food, medications, or farm equipment and parts). Asking for more money is never easy, but our kids are worth it. It is now incumbent upon our elected school boards to be good stewards of this additional funding.

Thumbs Up: To some “super” visits earlier this week at HSHS St. John’s Children Hospital in Springfield.

On Thursday, Batman and Spider-Man dropped in to visit children at the hospital. The superheroes, portrayed by Paul Soenksen and Roddrick Napier, scaled the side of the building, waving at the children.

You only needed one look at the faces of the kids — and their parents — to see how much these special visits meant. It’s no fun to be sick and in the hospital at any age, but especially when you’re a child. A visit from superheroes no doubt made for a brighter day. The visit by the duo was courtesy of Maintenance Supply and O’Shea Builders. Thanks go to them for providing the visit.

Thumbs Up: To the Springfield City Council for voting Wednesday to approve a $141,000 contract that will allow the fire department to install technology that should improve response times on the west side of the city.

The purchase will allow the department to put radio-based sensors at 16 intersections and on four fire vehicles at Fire Station No. 12 on Koke Mill Road and No. 9 near Chatham Road and Iles Avenue. The technology helps move traffic along by changing lights to green along an outfitted fire rig’s route to an emergency.

Because of traffic and the road’s concrete medians, response time to fire calls south of Interstate 72 along the Veterans Parkway corridor is about 8 minutes — twice as long as the fire department’s citywide average of less than four minutes. It is unacceptable for part of the city’s residents to have to wait that long in an emergency for assistance to arrive. The fire department has been right to petition the council to get this technology — which is already found in many cities of Springfield's size — installed.

Fire Chief Allen Reyne said the investment will prove successful if it can cut off at least two minutes from the area’s response times. We should know quickly after it’s installed — which will take two to three months — if it’s working.

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